Pregnant Hamm declines induction into Texas Hall

AUSTIN, Texas -- Mia Hamm declined induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame next year because she's pregnant and has been advised not to travel.

Hamm was voted into the hall with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, former Oklahoma great Billy Sims, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and quarterback Warren Moon. But she reluctantly declined induction, which is scheduled for Feb. 15 in Waco.

Hamm and her husband, baseball player Nomar Garciaparra, are expecting their first child in early spring. A spokesman for Hamm said the soccer great was advised by her doctor against traveling after January.

"This is a first for us," said Steve Fallon, executive director of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. "We've never had anybody decline because they're pregnant. Her spokesman said she wants to be inducted very badly."

Hamm spent her teenage years in Wichita Falls and has a home in Austin. She attended college at North Carolina and now lives in Los Angeles with Garciaparra.

Hamm told hall officials she would accept the honor in 2008. According to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame rules, if a person is not inducted for a three-year period because he or she refuses or declines the honor, the person is taken off the ballot for at least five years.